Sheltered

by Alexa Riley

  But in the end, it’s futile because he stuffs me in the car like a Kleenex and slams the door. I reach for the handle, and my hand slips on the first try, and on the second, it won’t open. It’s then I notice the blood on my hands and I reach up to touch my head. I can see my reflection in the window and realize half my face is bloody. It’s probably why I couldn’t see at first. I’m surprised I didn’t pass out, but then I remember someone telling me that head wounds bleed like crazy.

  I flinch when I feel the driver door open, and I turn my body so it’s plastered against the passenger side. I hold my hands out in defense as Fritz gets in and starts the car. He hits the gas and I hear the tires screech as he pulls out of the driveway.

  “Fritz, why are you doing this, what’s going on?” I say, trying to keep the tears out of my voice. I want to break down and cry, but I’m scared shitless and need to be calm.

  “You fucked everything, Blair. Everything!” he shouts and swerves around a bend in the road. “But I’m going to fix this. I’m not going down for this shit.” He grasps the steering wheel in a tight grip.

  The folders from Ryker’s house are in his lap. I look up, and this time I really see him. His blond hair is greasy and ratty looking. He was always so careful with how he styled it, never a hair out of place. Now his eyes have dark circles under them, and his cheeks look hollow. When did he last sleep? His hands are filthy, and his clothes look just as grimy, like he’s been rolling around in dirt. This is the complete opposite of the Fritz I knew. He looks like he’s having some kind of breakdown.

  I’m afraid that whatever I say might provoke him, so I just keep quiet and try to think. How the hell am I going to get out of this? What it is even going on? How did I get mixed up in something like this?

  I think my head has stopped bleeding, but I try to be as still as I can as Fritz speeds down the road. I can’t tuck and roll with how he’s driving, but maybe I can wait until he stops. I’m not wearing any shoes, but at this point I don’t care. I just know that he’s somehow snapped and I need to get away.

  “You were supposed to do your job and all this was going to make me rich. I wouldn’t have to worry about my parents’ money or anyone else riding my ass. This was going to be my chance, but you fucked it all up. I thought some redneck trailer trash would be easy to blame. But then you had to get all emotional when you saw me fucking Lilith.”

  He stares at the road as he talks, and though his name-calling hurts, the fact that he had sex with Lilith means nothing to me. At the time I remember feeling devastated, but now I couldn’t care less. I want to tell him that it’s fine if he’s with Lilith, but I keep my mouth shut, sensing he’s too close to whatever edge he’s on. In fact, I’m not even sure he’s really talking to me.

  “I spent years trying to find the perfect person. You were so desperate for affection, all I had to do was send you a text every three days and you thought we were dating.” He makes a snorting noise like the thought is laughable. “Like I would ever be seen in public with someone like you. Someone of your class.”

  He looks over at me, and for the first time I see the ice in his cold blue eyes. He looks at me as if he hates me. There isn’t a single ounce of affection there, and that’s the most chilling part of all of this. He turns back to the road and grips the wheel as he continues. His words would have cut me at one time. I might have even believed him, but not anymore.

  “Lilith and I had this worked out long ago. I met her at one of my parents’ parties. I’m sure she was just looking for a quick fuck, but I knew I could use her like she wanted to use me. I knew from my parents’ whispers she was in debt up to her eyes and her ex-husband wasn’t paying her bills anymore. She needed money and so did I. I knew my family was about to cut me off, so I made a deal with her. We’d funnel the stolen artwork through her gallery and sell it all through one group of buyers. All we had to do was find someone to process all of it, so that if the cops came looking we wouldn’t have our names on it.” He says it all like he’s bragging, as if he’d come up with such a great plan.

  “Me,” I whisper and close my eyes. How could I have been so stupid? I tried so hard to not be like my mama and to not let men use me like they had her, but I was only looking at it from one angle—sex. There were so many ways a person could be used.

  “We were so close,” he grits out and pounds the steering wheel. “But these are not the kind of guys you can mess around with, and now the whole operation is fucked. They’re after me, Blair.”

  For a moment, there is a pleading tone in his voice, and he sounds like the Fritz I once knew. But it doesn’t pull at my heart like it once did. Instead it makes me hate him. How could he use me like this? What if this had been me? Would he have sacrificed me to save himself? I don’t even have to think about the answer to that.

  “But I can fix this,” he says, and I hear him sniff as he rubs one eye with the heel of his hand, then the other. “I’m going to fix this.”

  I don’t know how long I’ve been in the car, but we’ve made it back to the city and he’s turning in to the art gallery warehouse. For a second, I think he’s going to park, and I might have a chance to make a run for it, but instead he pulls right through the loading door and I hear the metal crank down behind us, closing us in.

  My door never unlocks as he turns off the car and gets out. I think about crawling out the driver side, but Fritz is at my door and yanking it open before I can make a move. He grabs me by my arm and jerks me out of the car, nearly dragging me over to a stack of crates.

  He throws me down on top of one, and I bang my hip against a sharp wooden corner. I cry out as I try to lie on top it. I shouldn’t close my eyes, because I probably have a concussion, but my body is begging me to pass out and get away from all the pain.

  “You idiot, you brought her here?!” I hear Lilith shriek as a door slams nearby.

  “Shut up,” Fritz says so low that it sounds deadly.

  I turn to face him, and I see him staring at Lilith. She’s gone white in the face at the sight of Fritz and the gun at his side. I don’t blame her. He looks like he’d be all too happy to use that thing right about now, and suddenly I’m sure he’s going to use it on me. I know it.

  “Fritz, honey,” Lilith begins, but even I can hear the false tenderness in her voice. “It’s over. Put the gun down and let’s get out of here. We can hop on a plane and head to the Caribbean. They won’t find us there. She doesn’t need to be involved anymore.”

  I’m surprised that Lilith is willing to defend me. Then again maybe she’s scared he’s going to lose it and shoot both of us.

  “They’ll never stop looking,” Fritz says, turning to look at me. “I was supposed to be on a beach sipping margaritas by now. But instead I’ve had to track down all the loose ends.”

  “I promise I won’t say anything,” I plead, sitting up. “You have all the information I found. That’s all of it. I haven’t told anyone what happened.” Tears fill my eyes as I try to convince him to let me live. “I’m nothing. No one would believe me.”

  Fritz takes a menacing step towards me and leans in close. “Is that what my brother told you?”

  Confusion sets in at his words, and an evil smile forms on his face.

  “What? You didn’t know Ryker is my brother?” There’s a strange excitement in his eyes as a knot of worry grows in my stomach. Then suddenly he begins to laugh. “Oh god, he didn’t tell you?”

  His laugh echoes through the warehouse, and I think for a second that I might throw up.

  “Oh, sweet, stupid Blair. He’s been using you this whole time.”

  The pain in my head from where he struck me is nothing compared to the pain ripping through my heart at the realization that I’ve been used again.

  Chapter 24

  Ryker

  “Is she going to be okay?” I ask the vet, and he nods.

  John had gotten one of his men to get him before I even came out here. It took us longer than I wanted to ge
t Memphis to back down and let me reach Diamond. John was right, I was the only one he would listen to.

  I could see the look in the horse’s eyes, and I’ve known that panic. I felt the same way when I knew my Blair was in danger. Once I got Memphis out of the way and the boys got him back to the barn, we were able to cut Diamond free. She lost a good bit of blood, but the vet was there to take care of her. We got her back in her stall and she’s been resting, with Memphis in the stall beside her to watch over her.

  “I just don’t know what happened,” John says, rubbing his face. “When I saw she was gone I looked everywhere for her. Then the radio was out—”

  “What?” I say, cutting him off.

  “Yeah, it was smashed up,” he says, pointing over to the table with pieces of black plastic on it. “I thought maybe one of the horses trampled it when they got out, but I remember putting it back in my office before I went to bed.”

  The hair on the back of my neck stands up and I turn to look at the house. “Blair,” I whisper and take off running.

  John is hot on my heels as we jump in the Gator and take off for the house. We kick mud up all around us as I speed over the hill and to the back of the house. Lily is outside in the garden and she stands up when she sees me coming in fast. I watch as she pulls headphones off her ears and looks at me strangely.

  “What’s wrong?” she asks, watching me rush in.

  “Where’s Blair?” I demand as I run. “Cricket!” I shout, not waiting for her to answer. I just need to make sure she’s okay.

  When I burst through the door of my office, Bear nearly jumps on me and meows so loudly it’s like a cry. I look around the room and see the coffee table turned over and blood on the floor. The files that I left with Blair are missing and the front door is wide open.

  I can hear my heart pound in my ears as the world comes crashing down around me, making me feel like I can’t breathe.

  “Oh god, where is she?” I hear Lily say behind me with a sob in her throat. Her tracker.

  My phone rings and I look around the room for it. It’s on my desk, and I lunge for it, grabbing it up.

  “Fritz,” I growl as I answer it, knowing my brother is behind this.

  “No, it’s Roxy.” Blair’s old roommate sounds like it’s straining him to talk. “Look, you told me to call you if anything happened. That guy Fritz tried to fucking kill me, man. If my friend hadn’t come home to find me, I might have died.”

  “I don’t have time for this,” I growl, knowing I need to get to Blair. She is my only concern right now.

  “I know. That’s why I’m calling. I’ve been watching that art place like you told me to. He just went back and I think she was in the car with him.”

  I grab my keys off the desk and run out the front door. I feel John hot on my heels as I jump in. I don’t wait for him to shut the door before I hit the gas.

  “How long ago was it?” I say into the phone, praying I’m not too late.

  “Not long, but I think you better hurry.” His voice is so hoarse, but I understand what he’s trying to say.

  “Goddammit, Fritz,” I snarl, hitting the steering wheel with my fist and willing the car to go faster. I know if I lose Blair I’ll never survive it.

  Chapter 25

  Blair

  “But you don’t have a brother,” I say, even though the words sound silly coming out of my mouth. It’s not like Fritz was ever honest with me, so why should I believe that he was an only child? But now when I think back on it, he never actually said it. Whenever his family came up he changed the subject. I thought maybe he didn’t want me to meet them yet, so he didn’t want to bring them up, thinking maybe I wasn’t good enough yet.

  He laughs again, enjoying the pain he sees on my face. “He’s my half-brother. And you’re just as useless to him as you were to me. You’re expendable, Blair. No one wants you.”

  His words land a direct hit, and I can feel them as if they were a physical blow knocking the air out of me.

  But then my mind flashes to lying in bed with Ryker and the way he looked at me in the morning light. I think about every touch and how he made me feel. I think about what I feel for him and how what I had with Fritz never compared at all. I didn’t know what my heart was capable of feeling until I met Ryker. If he’s involved in this, it can’t be to hurt me. Even if it started out that way. If Ryker is involved like Fritz says he is, it was to protect me. I know that with every fiber of my being. That man loves me. He might not have said the words yet, but I know he does. He truly loves me like no one else has ever done before and I won’t doubt him ever again. Whatever this is, I stand with him. Trust him.

  I made terrible decisions in my life, and one of them was trusting Fritz. I won’t make that same mistake again and let his hateful words break me. Ryker loves me, and I love him. That isn’t just a feeling, that’s what’s written on my soul. I won’t allow him to destroy something beautiful I shared with Ryker because his world is crumbling.

  The light catches Fritz’s gun as he moves back and forth, reminding me that right now he’s a loose cannon. I glance over at Lilith, who is still frozen in place. I need to keep him talking. If he’s talking he’s not killing anyone, and I need to buy some time. I know that Ryker will come for me. He’s saved me before and he’ll do it again. I just have to give him time to get here. If there is one thing I know, Fritz likes to talk about himself.

  “Ryker’s last name is Hunt,” I say, trying to think of something to say. “I met his parents.”

  “He’s not a Hamilton,” Fritz replies, but he’s talking to himself. “He was a bastard. My dad met my mom and he felt sorry for her. That’s why he married her. She was poor and alone.” The disgust is clear in his voice. How could someone talk about their mama like that? Mine wasn’t the best and I wouldn’t ever speak about her in that way.

  He glances over at me, and I think of Kathleen and how she told me she came from a place just like I did, that we were more alike than I realized.

  “Ryker was five when they had me, but we were never brothers. He was always on the outside. That’s why he never changed his name. It’s because my mom never did fit in. He didn’t want to belong, just like she didn’t. They didn’t fit in. Like you never will.”

  He spits the insult at me and resumes pacing. He’s on a roll now and I don’t have to ask him any questions to keep him talking. But as he does, I look around for some sort of weapon I can use to protect myself if he comes at me.

  “They cut me off and gave me no choice. They said I needed to learn some independence and take responsibility for my actions. That they were entrusting the business to Ryker because he had proven himself. But I’m their son!” His shout echoes through the warehouse. “I’m the rightful heir to the Hamilton fortune and they’ve cut me out of it. Ryker was their golden child from the beginning, even though I deserved it. My own father praised that bastard more than he ever did me.”

  He lets out a growl and he clenches his free hand into a fist. I’m not sure my plan is working because he’s only getting angrier.

  “Now the cops are after me, the guys we stole the art from are on to us. The buyers are demanding their money and threatening to kill me. What am I supposed to do?”

  He turns to look at me and there is a panic in his eyes. His own reality is crashing in on him as he gives voice to his problems.

  “We’ll fix this,” Lilith offers, her voice low and soothing. “We can make it all go away. Just give me the gun.”

  I watch as she holds out her hands, slowly moving closer to Fritz. She’s only a couple of feet from him, but he doesn’t move as she gets closer.

  “We can work this out, Fritz.” She’s inches away from him now. “Give me the gun and we’ll get out of here. Just you and me.”

  As she says the last words, something snaps in Fritz. Anger falls over his face and before I can blink he fires the gun.

  Lilith screams and grabs her side as she crumples to the ground. For a se
cond Fritz looks panicked, like he didn’t mean to shoot it, but he swallows and the mask falls right back into place.

  My hand goes to my mouth. I’m shocked and unable to move. Lilith is on the ground as Fritz stands over her, shouting. “You and me? It was never you and me. It was always you. I was your little errand boy and all you ever did was tell me how I fucked this up. Don’t patronize me, Lilith!”

  I watch as his anger builds and builds, until he turns his eyes on me. A chill runs down my spine as he steps over to where I’m sitting on the crate.

  “What will fix this is killing you, Blair. All I have to do is make it look like you were the one working with Lilith and all of this will go away.” He smirks, a crazy, happy look in his eyes like he’s got it all figured out now.

  He grabs the files off the crate next to me and throws them on the ground beside Lilith. She’s crying, and the pool of blood surrounding her is growing. If she doesn’t get help soon she may bleed to death. I can’t help but feel bad for her, even though I know she’s all kinds of mixed up in this herself. Her hands aren’t clean.

  “Please, Fritz, don’t do this.” I don’t know how to convince him that none of this will work. Killing me won’t solve anything. But he can’t see that right now. He’s too far gone. I just have to get through to him somehow. “If you do this, it will destroy your parents. Don’t do this to them. I know they love you.”

  “You don’t know shit,” he says, but I can hear the waver in his voice.

  “I know that I would love my child no matter what they did,” I say, and I know it’s true. If I’m somehow carrying Ryker’s child right now, I would love our baby without exception. “And I know your mom would do anything to keep you from hurting someone or hurting yourself.” I may have only spent a day with Kathleen, but I know this to be true. Just seeing how she was with Ryker was telling.